Calgary stays with Siemens for LRT fleet

Calgary Transit is ordering 60 new S200 light rail vehicles from Siemens Mobility, an increase of 10 from previous plans to acquire 50 new LRVs.

Siemens's successful effort means the Albertan city's CTrain LRT fleet will continue to be represented by Siemens products, currently including Siemens U2 models, used by many early North American LRT startups. The contract is valued at roughly C$192 million.

The new cars will begin arriving on the property in mid-2015, with final delivery in December 2016. Siemens Mobility will produce the cars at its Sacramento, Calif., facility.

Calgary Transit's current fleet of about 160 cars has been in operation since the LRT system—the second modern one to open in North America—made its operational debut in May 1981.

Unclear, however, is the disposition of the older cars. While some may be retired, capacity constraint due to rising ridership demand can't fully be addressed by the arrival of the new equipment. Far from just replacing capacity, Calgary Transit hopes to increase it by running trains of up to four LRVs.

System reliability has become an issue in recent weeks, with Calgary Transit acknowledging that its LRV breakdown rate has become more acute.